Lieberman Associate Nominated for Ministry CEO Post

The Appointments Committee of the Civil Service Commission is scheduled to vote, next week, on the appointment of attorney Oded Forer to be Director-General of the Immigrant Absorption Ministry, according to a Tuesday-morning report by the Ma'ariv daily. Forer, considered an associate of Yisrael-Beyteinu party chairman Avigdor Lieberman, was 16th on the party's list of Knesset candidates and headed the party's youth division. Lieberman is on trial in a corruption case related to an ambassadorial appointment when he was foreign minister.

The Absorption Ministry issued a statement that Minister Sofa Landver nominated Forer "out of familiarity with his professional capabilities and skills and his rich management experience, and she is convinced that he can continue to lead the office to achievements." Other sources in the ministry called him inexperienced, adding that his nomination recalled the attempt to appoint Shalom Shlomo, a former advisor to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, to the post of Director General of Minister Naftali Bennett's Economy and Trade Ministry.